(a) Adjudicatory hearing means a hearing held pursuant to section 94-c of the New York State Executive Law, this Part or article 3 of the New York State Administrative Procedure Act, where parties may present evidence on issues of fact, and argument on issues of law and fact prior to the executive director (as defined in subdivision [v] of this section) or their designee rendering a decision on the merits, but shall not include public comment hearings.

(b) Administrative law judge or ALJ means the designated representative authorized by the executive director (as defined in subdivision [v] of this section) to conduct hearings pursuant to this Part.

(c) Amicus means a person who is not otherwise eligible for party status, but who is allowed to introduce written argument upon one or more specific issues.

(d) APA means the New York State Adirondack Park Agency.

(e) Applicant means a person (as defined in subdivision [bf] of this section) filing appropriate applications and supporting materials for the purpose of obtaining a siting permit from the Office of Renewable Energy Siting.

(f) Argument means opinions or viewpoints, as distinguished from evidence.

(g) Certificate of completion or COC shall have the same meaning as set forth in 6 NYCRR Part 375.

(h) Chief executive officer means: for a county outside of a city, the executive of a county elected or appointed on a county-wide basis or, if there be none, the chairman of the board of supervisors of legislature; for a city, the mayor; for a village, the mayor; and for a town, the supervisor; or the highest elected or appointed official therein.

(i) Commencement of commercial operation or commercial operation date is defined as the date on which the major renewable energy facility (as defined in subdivision [ag] of this section) as a whole first commences generating or transmitting electricity for sale, excluding electricity generated or transmitted during the period of on-site test operations and commissioning of the facility.

(j) Commencement of construction means the beginning of unlimited and continuous site clearing, site preparation and grading activity, but does not include staging, limited tree-cutting activities related to testing or surveying (such as geotechnical drilling and meteorological testing), together with such testing, surveying, drilling and similar pre-construction activities to determine the adequacy of the site for construction and the preparation of application materials or compliance filings.

(k) Community intervenor means a potential community intervenor (as defined in subdivision [bh] of this section) who has been granted party status pursuant to section 900-8.4 of this Part.

(l) Complete application or completeness of an application means an application for a permit that is determined by the Office of Renewable Energy Siting, by issuance of a notice of complete application, to be sufficient for the purpose of preparing draft permit conditions, but which may need to be supplemented during the course of review in order to enable the Office of Renewable Energy Siting to make the findings and determinations required by law. Applications deemed compliant with section 164 of the New York State Public Service Law by the Chair of the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the environment shall be considered complete upon filing of a transfer application (as defined in subdivision [bz] of this section) pursuant to this Subpart.

(m) CLCPA targets means the public policies established in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act enacted in chapter 106 of the Laws of 2019, including the requirement that a minimum of 70 percent of the statewide electric generation be produced by renewable energy systems by 2030, that by the year 2040 the statewide electrical demand system will generate 0 emissions and the procurement of at least 9 gigawatts of offshore wind electricity generation by 2035, 6 gigawatts of photovoltaic solar generation by 2025 and to support 3 gigawatts of statewide energy storage capacity by 2030.

(n) CPLR means the New York State Civil Practice Law and Rules.

(o) Delegated permit means a permit issued by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation which substitutes for a comparable permit required by Federal law and is recognized by the Federal agency responsible for administering the Federal program.

(p) Department of State or department means the New York State Department of State.

(q) Disclosure means the disclosure of facts, documents, or other things that are known by or in the possession of a person and that are material and necessary in the prosecution or defense of the proceeding regardless of the burden of proof.

(r) Draft permit means a document prepared by the Office of Renewable Energy Siting which contains terms and conditions staff find necessary for a proposed major renewable energy facility (as defined in subdivision [ag] of this section) to meet all legal requirements associated with such a permit, but is subject to modification as a result of public comments or an adjudicatory hearing.

(s) ECL means the New York State Environmental Conservation Law.

(t) Electronically stored information or ESI means any information that is created, stored, or utilized with computer technology of any type. ESI includes, but is not limited to, word-processing files, audio files, video files, spreadsheets, images, emails and other electronic messaging information that are stored electronically.

(u) Environmental justice area or EJ area means a minority or low-income community that may bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from the siting of a major renewable energy facility.

(v) Executive director or director means the Executive Director of the Office of Renewable Energy Siting.

(w) Executive Law or EL means the New York State Executive Law.

(x) Evidence means sworn or affirmed testimony of witnesses, and physical objects, documents, records or photographs that tend to prove or disprove the existence of an alleged fact.

(y) Hearsay means a statement, other than one made by a sworn witness testifying at the hearing, offered into evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.

(z) Host Community Benefit means a payment or other incentive for the benefit of the host community, as determined by the Public Service Commission pursuant to section eight of part JJJ of chapter 58 of the Laws of 2020, or such other payment or incentive as determined by the Office of Renewable Energy Siting, or as subsequently agreed to between the applicant and the host community.

(aa) Interconnections means off-site electric transmission lines less than 10 miles in length, water supply lines, waste water lines, communications lines, steam lines, stormwater drainage lines, and appurtenances thereto, installed in New York State connecting to and servicing the site of a major renewable generating facility, that are not subject to the Public Service Commission’s jurisdiction under article VII of the New York State Public Service Law, not including service lines designed and sized for household type usage such as for bathrooms or ordinary telephones.

(ab) Local agency account means the account established by the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and maintained by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority pursuant to section 94-c of the Executive Law for local agencies and potential community intervenors which meet the eligibility and procedural requirements of this Part to participate in public comment periods or hearings.

(ac) Local agency means any local agency, board, district, commission or governing body, including municipalities, and other political subdivision of the State.

(ad) Low-income community means a census block group, or contiguous area with multiple census block groups, where 23.59 percent or more of the population have an annual income that is less than the poverty threshold; except that the percentage population and income threshold may be revised to reflect updated demographic data.

(ae) Major amendment means a change in a siting permit application likely to result in any material increase in any identified adverse environmental impacts, any significant adverse environmental impact not previously identified, or any new site-specific standards and conditions.

(af) Major modification means a change to an existing permit standard or condition likely to result in any material increase in any identified adverse environmental impact or any significant adverse environmental impact not previously addressed by uniform or site-specific standards or conditions or otherwise involves a substantial change to an existing permit standard or condition.

(ag) Major renewable energy facility or facility means any renewable energy system, as such term is defined in section 66(p) of the New York State Public Service Law as added by chapter 106 of the Laws of 2019, with a nameplate generating capacity of 25,000 kilowatts or more, and any co-located system storing energy generated from such a renewable energy system prior to delivering it to the bulk transmission system, including all associated appurtenances to electric plants as defined under section 2 of the New York State Public Service Law, including electric transmission facilities less than 10 miles in length in order to provide access to load and to integrate such facilities into the State’s bulk electrical transmission system.

(ah) Minor amendment means a change in an application or draft permit condition that is not a major amendment.

(ai) Minor modification means a change in an existing permit condition or an approved compliance filing that is not a major modification.

(aj) Minority community means a census block group, or contiguous area with multiple census block groups, where the minority population is equal to or greater than 51.1 percent in an urban area or 33.8 percent in a rural area; except that the specific percentages may be revised to reflect updated demographic data.

(ak) Minority population means a population that is identified or recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau as Hispanic, African-American or Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, or American Indian.

(al) Motion means a request for a ruling or an order.

(am) Municipality means a county, city, town or village.

(an) Nameplate generating capacity means, starting from the initial installation of a major renewable energy facility, the maximum electrical generating output that the facility is capable of production on a steady State basis and during continuous operation (when not restricted by seasonal or other de-ratings) as specified by the manufacture of the generating units.

(ao) No further action determination means a written determination by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation that a parcel of real property has been remediated to the applicable regulatory agency’s satisfaction.

(ap) Non-participating property means a parcel of real property owned by a person (as defined in subdivision [bf] of this section) who has not executed an agreement with the applicant related to the facility.

(aq) NYSAGM means the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

(ar) NYSDEC means the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

(as) NYSERDA means the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

(at) NYSDPS means the New York State Department of Public Service.

(au) NYSDOT means the New York State Department of Transportation.

(av) NYSDOH means the New York State Department of Health.

(aw) OPRHP means the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

(ax) Office or ORES means the Office of Renewable Energy Siting within the Department of State and established pursuant to section 94-c of the Executive Law.

(ay) Office of hearings means the office within the ORES principally responsible for conducting adjudicatory hearings pursuant to this Part.

(az) Office staff means those office personnel participating in a hearing, but does not include the executive director, or their designee, the ALJ or those personnel in the Office of Hearings advising or consulting with the executive director, or their designee, or the ALJ.

(ba) Opt-in renewable energy facility means a renewable energy system, as such term is defined in section 66(p) of the New York State Public Service Law as added by chapter 106 of the Laws of 2019, with a nameplate capacity of at least 20,000 kilowatts but less than 25,000 kilowatts, in which the applicant has elected to submit an application for siting pursuant to this section and for the purposes of this Part, shall be considered a major renewable energy facility.

(bb) Participating property means a parcel of real property owned by a person who has executed a lease, easement or other agreement with the applicant related to the facility.

(bc) PSL means the New York State Public Service Law.

(bd) Party means any person granted full party status or amicus status in the adjudicatory portion of the hearing according to the procedures and standards set forth in this Part but does not include the ALJ, the Office of Hearings, or the executive director (or their designee).

(be) Pending article 10 facility means a major renewable energy facility, which on or before the effective date of section 94-c of the Executive Law, had submitted a draft public involvement program plan to the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment pursuant to article 10 of the PSL and its implementing regulations.

(bf) Person means any individual, public or private corporation, public benefit corporation, limited liability company, multi-state authority, political subdivision, government agency, department or bureau of the State, Federally/State recognized Indian Nation, municipality, industry partnership, association, firm, trust, estate or any legal entity whatsoever.

(bg) Plain language means an eighth-grade reading level or language which is easily understandable to the lay public.

(bh) Potential community intervenor means any person residing within a municipality within which a major renewable electric generating facility is proposed or residing outside the municipality within which the facility is proposed, but within one mile of a proposed solar facility (as defined in subdivision [bu] of this section) or five miles of a proposed wind facility (as defined in subdivision [ca] of this section) or any non-profit organization that can demonstrate a concrete and localized interest that may be affected by a proposed facility and that such interest has a significant nexus to their mission. For the purposes of this definition, the term residing shall include any resident or owner of property within the geographical limitations described above.

(bi) Potential party means any person who has filed a petition for party status whose petition has not received either final denial or acceptance.

(bj) Project means the physical activity or undertaking for which a siting permit is required from the office.

(bk) Project impact area means the geographic area or areas within which the proposed undertaking may cause any change, beneficial or adverse, in the character or use of an identified archaeological site, historic resource or cultural property.

(bl) Protective order means an order denying, limiting, conditioning or regulating the use of material requested through disclosure.

(bm) Public comment hearing means the portion of the hearing process during which unsworn statements are received from the host municipalities, the public and the parties.

(bn) Public Service Commission or PSC means the New York State Public Service Commission.

(bo) Recommended decision and hearing report means the ALJ's summary of the proceeding, including the ALJ’s findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recommendations for the executive director’s (or their designee) consideration.

(bp) Relevant means tending to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the proceeding more probable or less probable.

(bq) Repurposed site means an existing or abandoned commercial or industrial use property, including without limitation, brownfields, landfills, dormant electric generating or other previously disturbed location which, if applicable, has been remediated to permit the siting of a major renewable energy facility.

(br) SAPA means the New York State Administrative Procedure Act.

(bs) Service means the delivery of a document to a person by authorized means and, where applicable, the filing of a document with the ALJ, the Office of Hearings or the executive director (or their designee).

(bt) Siting permit or permit means authorization to construct and operate a major renewable energy facility issued by the office pursuant to section 94-c of the Executive Law and this Part.

(bu) Solar facility means a solar-powered major renewable energy facility.

(bv) Statement of intent to deny means a document prepared by office staff which identifies the reasons why the siting permit for the project may not be issued as proposed or conditionally.

(bw) Stipulation means an agreement between two or more parties to a proceeding, and entered into the hearing record, concerning one or more issues of fact or law that are the subject of the proceeding.

(bx) Study area means the area generally related to the nature of the technology and the setting of the proposed site. Unless otherwise provided in this Part, in highly urbanized areas, the study area is a minimum one-mile radius from the property boundaries of the facility site, interconnections and related facilities, and for facilities with components spread across a rural landscape, the study area shall at a minimum include the area within a radius of at least five miles from all generating facility components, interconnections and related facilities.

(by) Subpoena means a legal document that requires a person to appear at a hearing and testify, to produce documents or physical objects, or both.

(bz) Transfer application means an application submitted for a siting permit for an opt-in renewable energy facility current undergoing an alternative permitting process or a pending article 10 facility.

(ca) Wind facility means a land-based, wind-powered major renewable energy facility.